LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
There are long lines today at a lesser-known tourist site here in Rome. It's actually been here for nearly 1,600 years but has more interest now because it's where Pope Francis was buried yesterday. NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab was standing by when the popemobile, carrying the casket, arrived.
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FATIMA AL-KASSAB, BYLINE: On her trip to Rome, Lucia Latarulo is moved to tears not by the opulence of the Vatican, but by the Basilica of Saint Mary Major across town, where Pope Francis often prayed and, in the end, chose to be buried.
LUCIA LATARULO: (Speaking Italian).
AL-KASSAB: The church is home to 5th century mosaics, the grave of the Baroque sculptor Bernini and a piece of what tradition holds was Jesus's crib. Now it also has a simple, undecorated tomb, inscribed with a single word, Franciscus. The pope chose one of Rome's less affluent immigrant neighborhoods, Esquilino. It's close to the city's main train and bus stations with budget hotels, kebab shops and laundromats.
ANDREW GARRITY: Yeah, this is, you know, a rather common neighborhood. It's not anything spectacular.
AL-KASSAB: Andrew and Maria Garrity visit from Buffalo, New York.
MARIA GARRITY: I think he's a pope of the people, and he wanted to be here with the people, not sort of in another area. I think that's why. These are where the people are.
AL-KASSAB: Across the street, someone unfurls a banner reading, grazie, Francesco. Bartenders and barbers stand outside their shops, saluting their new neighbor.
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AL-KASSAB: This morning, a line forms, as the pope's resting place reopens to visitors.
M GARRITY: We're so fortunate to be here from St. Gregory the Great, Buffalo, New York.
AL-KASSAB: On a pilgrimage to St. Mary Major, a church to which Francis himself was often a pilgrim.
Fatima Al-Kassab, NPR News, Rome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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